Ride Of Your Life
by SportyRedBeemer
Summary: Four years later. New Italian international rider Capri Bruno come to Horseland. But her horse is sent on ahead. But the group finds her horse has been switched, and the new rider is proof that you can't judge a book...


_**Let's go Horseland!**_

_**Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!**_

_**There's a place we can go where we make the greatest friends we've ever had**_

_**Where we ride and we shine and we stick together through the good times and the bad**_

_**Yeah we're all friends here, on an adventure, riding to somewhere**_

_**Where everyone can shine!**_

_**Let's go Horseland!**_

_**Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!**_

Chapter 1

Bluebirds tweeted in the skies as every one cleaned the yard and mucked out stalls. A lot had changed over the past 4 years. Molly, Sarah, Chloe, Zoe, Alma, Bailey and Will had changed. Everyone had gotten older, and better at riding: Sarah, now 16, was the owner of Scarlet. A black Arabian mare that had continued to win best in show over the years. Molly and her appaloosa Calypso had one countless competitions in musical kur, Alma and Button had won in show jumping, Chloe and Chilli had been champions in dressage for the past 4 years, Zoe and Pepper had manage to place at least second in all of her cross country exhibitions, and Bailey and Aztec had surprised everyone when they had taken 1st place in the rough trekking show. Will, now 18, had moved down to Kansas with Jimber to study western riding and become a professional, so Bailey had taken over. Nani and Sunburst had left after her family decided to open a restaurant in Washington. Sarah's cousin Chase and his horse Wonder had joined too, after Chase decided to ride full time. Sarah, Molly, Alma, Chloe, Chase and Bailey and Jesse were now 16, while Zoe was 15.

"Hey, Sarah!" Bailey waved from across the yard as Sarah's limo pulled up.

"Hi!" Sarah replied as she stepped out.

"Guess what I heard from my mom and dad?" Bailey smiled.

"Shoot."

"A new girl is coming from _**Italy**_. Apparently she's a really famous rider." Bailey grinned.

"Italy? Must be a good reason if she's coming all the way to America." Sarah was puzzled.

"Yeah I know. It's a long way right? Her horse is coming here first, but the girl doesn't know. It's supposed to be a surprise. So when she gets here, we can't let her know that her horse is here. Her parents want it to be a surprise. They told her that they didn't want her horse coming over and it HAS to be kept on the down low. Promise?" Bailey frowned.

"I promise. When does she get here?" Sarah asked.

"About three days from now. But her horse gets her this afternoon. Wanna help me tell the others?"

"Sure. Just let me feed Scarlet and I'll be right there."

_**10 minutes later…**_

"So who's coming?" Zoe asked.

"Some Italian rider. I think her name's…Capri Bruno?" Bailey said. Chloe had been drinking a bottle of water, when suddenly, it sprayed out of her mouth.

"Are you serious? THE Capri Bruno?" She gasped.

"Get OUT!" Zoe gawked.

"Somebody pinch me!" Molly squealed.

"No way!" Alma's jaw dropped.

"Who's Capri Bruno?" Bailey asked.

"You don't know? She's the only girl in Europe to _**ever**_ win the Nationals three years in a row! And she's coming here!" Zoe jumped up and down.

"That may be, but Mr and Mrs Bruno are good friends of mine, and I want Capri to have the utmost respect." Mrs Handler came in.

"Hey mom." Bailey smiled.

"Hi Honey, now remember, Capri DOESN'T now that her horse is coming, so it HAS to be a surprise. Now her horse gets her in about half and hour, so can Sarah, Molly, Alma and Bailey please put fresh straw in the spare stall, and fill the water trough. While Chloe and Zoe put some hay into the feed bin. I'm going to buy some apples and carrots for the new horse, get a move on." Mrs Handler brushed out of the room.

"Let's go! I can't wait to see her horse!" Chloe shrieked as she ran from the tack room.

"Hey, Sarah, can you hand me that pitch fork?" Molly asked.

"Sure." Sarah complied.

"This horse has gotta be expensive if he's a national champ." Bailey said.

"I know. Imagine how good this could be for Horseland when everyone finds out that a National champion rider stayed here!" Sarah beamed.

"Less talking! More working!" Zoe ran past the stall.

"Since when are they so eager to work and help out?" Alma pointed out.

"Isn't it obvious? They're hoping that they'll get to exercise the horse until Capri Bruno gets here." Bailey scoffed.

"I don't think so." Mrs Handler said as she walked through the barn doors. "No one, and I repeat, no one, is to ride this horse. If it's injured while one of you are riding, Horseland is liable for all costs of damage. And we can't afford to repay the price of a horse, that is worth more then Horseland." She sighed.

"Oh! I can't wait!" Chilli whickered from his stall.

"This horse has got to have a lot of talent." Button agreed.

"It'll be nice to have someone new to talk to." Scarlet spoke up.

"And someone worthy of my friendship." Pepper neighed.

"Did any body catch the name of this new horse?" Aztec asked.

"The humans haven't mentioned a name. Maybe they don't know either." Shep said.

"Well, hopefully this horse is rich." Angora huffed.

"It doesn't matter Angora, as long as they're nice, I don't mind." Calypso burred. The animals and humans stopped when they heard tyres crunching on gravel.

"That's the horse!" Molly squealed as they all ran outside.  
>"Whoa!" I've never seen a trailer <em>that<em> big before." Bailey gawked.

"It's bigger than Sarah's!" Alma gasped. The massive trailer was black and white with windows.

"Imagine it Chloe, Capri is gonna love it here! We have to give her the five star treatment." Zoe shrieked. The truck came to a stop by the barn, and a petit blonde girl jumped down.

"Hello. I am Francesca. I am Capri's best friend." She smiled. Her voice was flowing with an Italian accent.

"Man she's cute." Bailey and Chase nudged each other.

"Capri's parents asked me to bring her horse down." Francesca spoke to Mrs Handler.

"Can we let him out?" Zoe begged.

"You mean can you let her out?" Francesca smiled.

"Her?" Chloe asked.

"Her. Ballerina is a very special friend to Capri. And I'm afraid, that Capri is the only one who can calm her down. I wouldn't dare to go near her. Ballerina is very unpredictable. And…how you Americans say: _**skittish**_." Francesca shuddered.

"We can keep her calm!" Zoe grinned before she and her sister dashed to the trailer door.

"Oh, no, please. I was not joking. Ballerina is almost…dangerous. If Capri is not here, someone will get hurt." Francesca warned.

"Don't worry. We'll be fine." Chloe insisted.

"Oh! Please stop them!" The Italian girl pleaded with Mrs Handler.

"Girls, maybe you should listen. I don't think she's kidding." Sarah said. But the two sisters ignored their pleas, and moved to open the doors.  
>"NNNNIIIIEEEEGGGGHHHH!" A shrill whinny came from inside the trailer when the bolt creaked. Loud bangs and thuds crashed off the metal walls and made them vibrate.<p>

"OH! I cannot watch!" Francesca covered her eyes and turned away from the scene. The sisters pulled the doors open and tugged down the ramp.

"Wow…What a gorgeous-LOOK OUT!" Chloe screamed as black blurry shape shot down the ramp. The black filly reared and bucked for all she was worth. She snorted at the group of strangers that she was surrounded by. The strangers awed at her beauty. Her long wavy black mane danced in the wind, and her tail swished around her legs. Sweat soaked her midnight black coat, waking it look waxy.

"Wow…"Every one awed.

"Easy girl, easy…" Sarah soothed as she approached the spooked filly. "Argh!" She shrieked and jumped back when the filly took a snap at her.

"Open a gate to a field!" Francesca commanded. The group ran to an empty paddock and threw the gate open. Ballerina snorted before she ran into the open paddock. They slammed the gate shut and watched as Ballerina galloped up and down.

"What a beautiful animal." Mrs Handler gawked.

"YOU!" Francesca glared at Chloe and Zoe. Who were both now looking very sheepish, "Ballerina was supposed to stay in the trailer until Capri got here! Mr and Mrs Bruno are crazy for bringing Capri here. Americans!" She groaned and tossed her arms into the air. She stormed towards the truck and slammed the door after she climbed in. The driver was a bald man, and he was laughing. Francesca lips were moving very quickly as she spoke to him, and she looked furious. The truck sped away and disappeared around the bend. Everyone turned back to the filly and gawked at her. Never, had they seen a horse so stunning. She was still galloping up and down whilst rearing at trees and bucking at fence posts.

"She's incredible." Chase said.

"I dunno. She doesn't seem like much of a champ to me. Almost seems kinda…wild." Bailey frowned.

"I'll go get some more carrots from the supplier. It could take a couple hours, though. I bought every apple and carrot from our supplier already, but with this horse's attitude, we gonna need all we can get. I'll have to go into the city and go to the grocery store. That'll take about 4 hours." Mrs Handler sighed. "No one is to go into that paddock. We saw how she reacted when the trailer opened, someone could be seriously hurt. You _**all**_ stay out." She warned.

"Got it." Bailey said. Mrs Handler jumped into the pick up truck and drove away, and disappeared around the bend.

"I am so gonna ride that horse." Chloe promised.

"Oh, no you don't." Chase glared. "That horse is crazy. She'll end up killing one of you!"

"Maybe we should wait until my mom gets back. Then we can ask who has the responsibility of riding her." Bailey spoke up.

"I doubt it. That horse is nuts!" Molly said.

"I don't think so. Maybe she's just homesick and wants to go back to Italy." Sarah sympathised.

"Maybe she just misses Capri. She is here on her own. If I was her, I'd wanna get back home." Alma sighed.

"NNNIIIEEEGGGHHH!" The filly reared on her back legs when a bird flew by.

"Who calls their horse 'Ballerina' anyway?" Bailey said.

"It's Italian. It means 'Dancer'." Alma said.

"How do you know that?" Chloe asked.

"The Italian and the Spanish langue have similarities. It's not hard to guess." She smiled.

"Maybe we should bring our horses out. That might calm her down if she has some company." Chase suggested.

"Let's have a go and see." Molly grinned as she raced towards Calypso's stall.

"What do you think is up with that horse? She sounds crazy." Button whickered.

"I can't see anything. She's in the west paddock. And that's behind us. I can only hear her. I have to agree with you though, she does sound a little wild." Scarlet burred.

"All the best horses are." Chilli scoffed.

"She's probably really snobby. I mean come on, a purebred, champion filly from Italy? How can you not be?" Aztec neighed.

"Just because the horse is from somewhere different and fancy, doesn't mean she's bad." Shep woofed.

"Purr-lease!" Angora scoffed. "A horse that famous ad pampered has got to be snooty." Angora scoffed

"I don't get it Shep. Why are they so unsure of the new horse? They haven't even met her yet." Teeny squealed.

"I don't know, Teeny." Shep replied.

"Hey, Calypso! Ready to meet the new horse?" Molly said as she approached her horses stall. Calypso whickered and tossed her long mane. Everyone filed in and grabbed the head collars. The horses were lead out and lead toward the paddock. They were all tied to the posts and their humans waited for the reaction of the foreign horse. They watched as she paused and tossed her head. Sensing the other horses.

"Hello." Scarlet called.

The filly snorted and turned her back to nuzzle on the grass.

"What a snob!" Angora hissed.

"I think she's calmed down enough. Any one feel like hot chocolate." Sarah asked.

"With marsh mellows?" Molly grinned.

"Whatever you guys want. It's on me." Sarah smiled. The group walked back to the barn, ready to go to the cafeteria.

"Hey, what's that?" Chase said as they passed a huge trunk.

"Don't know. Let's have a look." Bailey said as they walked over to it. He swung open the lid. And inside was a large set of brushes, hoof picks, leg wraps with ribbons, multi coloured rubber bands with heat protection spray and even a flat iron with curling tongs!

"Wow. Ever seen a horse so spoiled?" Chase laughed.

"Look at all that stuff!" Sarah gasped.

"Let's move it to the tack room and we can grab our hot chocolate." Molly suggested.

"Okay. Give me hand." Bailey said as they lifted the heavy trunk towards the tack room.

"Hey look! It's Will's truck!" Scarlet neighed. All the Horseland horses turned their heads to look at the beaten up pick up that pulled the white horse box.

"Jimber's back!" They all whinnied. They heard a faint nicker of reply from the trailer.

"Oh goody! Jimber's back! Jimber's back!" Teeny squealed.

"Oh, yippee. The more the merrier!" Agora hissed sarcastically before she lay down on a hay bale.

*  
>"Will!" The teenagers cried as they ran towards the tall blonde. Will had changed since they last saw him. Gone was the lanky boy with skinny legs. Instead Will had grown tall with muscled legs and firm biceps.<p>

"Wow. Will got hot." Zoe nudged Chloe.

"I know!" She giggled.

"How've you been cowboy?" Alma squeezed Will.

"Great. Kansas was a lot of fun. But it's not Horseland." Will sighed.

"So what does that mean?" Sarah asked.

"It means I'm back. For good." Will smiled.

"YES!" They all cheered.

"The drive back was- Whoa. When did we get we get that? Will smiled at the filly.

"We got some Italian champion staying at Horseland. Her horse got dropped ahead." Molly explained.

"Nice. Friesian. Not a purebred though." Will noted.

"Huh?" Chase frowned.

"The filly. It's not a purebred." Will explained.

"Hard to believe an Italian champion wouldn't own a purebred." Molly tilted her head in confusion.

"Yeah. In Ballerina's papers, it said she's a purebred." Chloe said.

"And why is her head collar yellow?" Zoe pointed out.

"You're missing the point, Zoe." Bailey sighed.

"No I'm not. Think about it. Her head collar's yellow, but the rest of her stuff is black. Why would her tack be two different colours?" Zoe pondered.

"Now that you think about it, Zoe has a point. You don't change a horses head collar when it's travelling, so why aren't the colours the same. Unless…" Chloe trailed off.

"Unless what?" Sarah asked.

"Unless…they were switched." Chloe finished.

**How was it? It's my first Horseland story, and it's a birthday present for my cousin Tammy, who LOVES Horseland.**

**HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAMMY! **


End file.
